


Windows To The Soul

by ProPinkist



Category: Tales of Zestiria
Genre: Fluff, Friendship, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, bury me in Sorey/Dezel friendship, i can't get enough, in which Sorey is adorable and Dezel is the awkward and tsun but secretly happy dad
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-01
Updated: 2016-02-01
Packaged: 2018-05-17 13:41:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,595
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5871760
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ProPinkist/pseuds/ProPinkist
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sorey wants to do something nice for Dezel now that he knows more about him. He hopes his idea will fly.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Windows To The Soul

**Author's Note:**

> I got this idea awhile ago and it just would not let go of me, oh my god. ...Technically, this fic isn't possible because of a skit in which Dezel describes how he can literally see like anyone else can with his wind (that is some magic wind, I tell ya), buuuuut I chose to ignore those little details. //shot So here, have some really sappy crap with Dezel probably being a bit too soft, and Sorey being a bit too overbearing.
> 
> Hope you enjoy. <3

“…Hey, Dezel, can I ask you something?” Sorey finally said, after waffling between it for a while now.

It was the night after they had taken down Cardinal Fortan, and they were preparing for bed. All the men were in one room, and the ladies in another, as usual, but Mikleo had said he wanted to take a late-night walk, so Sorey and Dezel were the only ones here now.

Sorey still felt guilty about what had happened with the Cardinal; it was the first time they had been unable to quell a hellion, and thus had been forced to kill it. At the very least, he should have been able to do the job himself in the end, because there was no other option… but he had hesitated, and Rose had delivered the killing blow herself before he could. It didn’t matter how many times she stressed to Sorey that killing was her job, and not his; deep down, he wished that the kind and pure-hearted Rose didn’t have to be faced with such grim tasks. …This had been _his_ burden to bear, not hers. He couldn’t just rely on her whenever this happened (though he hoped it never would again) just because she didn’t feel bad about taking a life, unlike him.

…But that wasn’t what he was thinking about at the moment. Sorey had something else on his mind now.

“What is it?” Dezel asked in a deadpan voice, turning around to face Sorey as he was shrugging off his jacket. The fact that Dezel did not show any reaction at all to Sorey going so far as to take his shirt off for the night (none of them had any nightwear, but some were more tolerant to sleeping in their clothes than others) only made him want to press on more, so he spoke hesitantly. …Then again, he thought, something like that might not faze Dezel anyway, knowing him.

“So… the one you’re after… they did that to your eyes?” he asked quietly.

Dezel froze for a moment, then sighed, shaking his head.

“If you’re going to pity me, like Mikleo and Lailah seemed to earlier, then don’t. You don’t need to worry yourselves over me; I’ve done just fine by myself all this time, and that’s not going to change.”

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to make it sound that way, I promise,” Sorey answered sincerely, sitting down on the edge of his bed. He had to admit, he was a bit surprised to hear that Mikleo of all people had inquired about it first, but he quickly put the thought aside. “…I think I heard you tell Rose during… that battle that the wind helps you, yeah?”

“…Yeah,” Dezel answered finally. “I’ve learned how to use the wind to feel out shapes around me very clearly, like how a bat uses sonar,” he started, sitting down on his own bed smoothly. Sorey was now hyper-aware of how Dezel moved at all times, and he acknowledged that he never had any trouble at all with movement and finding things, and had never appeared to in all the time he had known him so far. Really, he never would have suspected Dezel couldn’t see if it hadn’t been revealed so unexpectedly.

“I’ve had many, many years to hone this skill, and it’s worked perfectly all this time,” Dezel continued matter-of-factly, taking off his boots. “…And that’s all there is to it. The only thing that matters is that it doesn’t interfere with my mission.”

Sorey couldn’t help but admit he was fascinated. “I’m glad you’re able to do that. Did you learn that all by yourself, or did someone teach you? I’m sure no other seraph has such heightened senses as you do, because of this.” He realized he was starting to sound a bit too curious, and shut his mouth quickly. Dezel didn’t want pity, yes, but it wouldn’t be right to go too far in the opposite direction either.

“That’s exactly why I’m grateful for it; it’s an advantage I feel, not a hindrance,” Dezel murmured, still sitting on his bed but obviously antsy to be done with this conversation. “…I think I learned how to feel the wind from somewhere, but I honestly don’t remember; a lot of that is fuzzy.” He sighed. “Okay, are we do-“

“So you can see shapes with the wind, but not any colors or patterns, right?” Sorey interrupted. “It’s just… outlines?”

Even with his hair covering his eyes, it was obviously that Dezel’s eyebrow was twitching in annoyance, with a look of “ _are you serious?”_

“…Yes, that’s right, but why the hell are you so interested in this anyway? You’re making it out to be a much bigger deal than it is,” he scoffed.

Sorey hesitated, wondering if he should voice his next thoughts. “I… I know this doesn’t even begin to compare, but back when I had my previous squire, before Rose… I had to sacrifice some of my strength in order to provide her enough resonance, and I went blind in one eye.”

Dezel jerked his head up at Sorey’s words, obviously surprised. “…Is that so?” he asked matter-of-factly, though Sorey could sense he was fighting to keep his voice even.

“Yeah… I got used to it after a while… but I couldn’t imagine being unable to see at all. I felt so guilty when they found out I was hiding it… and yet, I felt so incredibly _relieved_ when I released Alisha from the pact, and my eye regained its visibility. …I _hated_ how happy I felt then… I got used to it so that the others wouldn’t worry about me, it’s true… but then once it returned to normal, I decided I never wanted to deal with that ever again.”

To his embarrassment, he felt a few tears come to his eyes, and he quickly wiped them away. “I’m so glad you have the wind to help you, Dezel… I know you say you don’t mind, that you’re grateful… but I’m glad your world isn’t completely dark.” He paused for a moment. “…It’s still sad that you can’t see colors though; there’s so much out there you love, I know… and you can’t fully experience it all like the rest of us can. …But again, anything is better than nothing.” He gave Dezel a watery smile.

Dezel was silent for a long while, before finally speaking.

“…You should have told them about that; having such a serious handicap in battle, with no way around it like me, could have gotten you seriously hurt, or worse,” he said bluntly.

Sorey chuckled sadly, thinking back to the fight against the plant hellion. “You’re right… I guess it’s just a testament to how well you’ve adapted, huh?” He smiled genuinely. “…But thanks for worrying about me, Dezel.”

“…It’s nothing,” Dezel replied quietly, pushing his hat down. “As for what you said… I don’t have time for pleasantries anymore; all of that vanished the day that _woman_ took my friend away from me, and destroyed the happiness of the Windriders. …I do like nature, it’s true, but I hardly let that get in the way of my ultimate goal.” He huffed, his normal attitude returning.

“…Maybe once I get my revenge, I’ll be able to have regrets about this injury of mine. But as for right now, _nothing_ is more important than my mission. …Would you try to understand, Sorey?”

Sorey bit his lip, hesitating. “…I’m sorry, I just think it’s sad... to be grateful for such a thing…” He looked down. “…But I won’t bring it up anymore, Dezel. It’s your way of life, so I shouldn’t’ disrespect it. I’m sorry.”

“Good,” Dezel replied, swinging his legs up onto the bed and laying down, rolling away from Sorey. “I’m exhausted, it’s been a long day. You should be tired too.”

Sorey smiled gently. “…Still… thanks for helping us out back there. Even though I know it probably wasn’t a big deal to you, it means a lot that you would be willing to reveal this to us. We never could have survived against her without your advantage, I’m sure.”

“…So much for not bringing it up again,” Dezel muttered, like a grumpy child. “But yeah, it was nothing. Use me to your advantage whenever you need to; that’s exactly what I told the others. It changes nothing.”

“…Of course. …Well, sleep well, Dezel,”

“’Night,” Dezel murmured back, obviously nearly asleep.

Sorey laid down on his own bed, his mind still running. He considered how Dezel’s life may have been in the past, before the band of mercenaries he’d been traveling with had been destroyed by this mysterious person he was after, and he had lost his sight. Had he been… happier, then? It was hard for Sorey to picture it now, and yet he supposed the answer was probably yes. He wished he could ask Rose, but apparently she hadn’t been able to see him, or any seraphs, until she had joined their group, despite her naturally high resonance.

Sorey wondered how it felt to have a part of you suddenly destroyed by powerful spells, and permanently, unlike his situation. The thought almost caused more tears to form.

His thoughts were interrupted at that moment in the most unexpected way.

“Hey Sorey… sucks that you had to deal with that. Glad you don’t have to anymore.”

Sorey jerked his head up at the muffled sound of Dezel’s voice, shocked to hear the reserved wind seraph say such a thing, and when he thought he had been asleep too. It didn’t take long for him to break out in a smile though.

“Thanks, Dezel. It means a lot to me to hear you say that.”

Dezel didn’t answer, but Sorey didn’t expect him to.

_I hope you’ll be able to find happiness eventually, Dezel._

 

* * *

 

It was a couple weeks later that Sorey found himself in the exact same situation as that night before. He had not-so-subtley gotten Mikelo to give him a few minutes alone with Dezel, because he hadn’t been lucky enough for him to have gone on another midnight stroll. Mikleo was understandably confused and completely clueless as to what Sorey could possibly want to tell their resident lone wolf privately, but nonetheless he agreed to it. He knew when something was important to Sorey, so he let him have this time.

“Hey Dezel, you have a moment?”

Dezel turned around slowly, as if he’d been caught doing something bad, and looked skeptical even without his eyes being visible.

“…What’s going on. Where’s Mikleo?”

“Ahh…” Sorey started, rubbing his head sheepishly. “…I asked him to step out for a second.”

“Lovely. That makes me feel _so_ much better.” Dezel sighed, crossing his arms. “…Let’s just get it over with. What is it, Sorey? …I bet I know what this is about again.”

_Of course, he would remember_ , Sorey thought to himself nervously.

“…Well,” he started, swallowing. “…Dezel, you know how to read, right?”

Dezel scoffed, facepalming. “What do you take me for, an idiot? Of course I know how to read; just because I haven’t been able to do it in forever doesn’t mean I’ve forgotten how.” He dropped his arms again, and his frown deepened. “…Is that a _book_ you’ve got there?”

“A-ahhh, yes it is!!” Sorey exclaimed hurriedly, embarrassed that it didn’t occur to him that Dezel would be able to sense what he was holding behind his back. “And you’re right, of course, that makes perfect sense.” He brought the book out in front of him, with a few cards laid atop it.

“…So I read about this one time, years ago, and Gramps explained more about it to me. …It’s a special kind of book where the letters aren’t printed with ink, but rather, there’s a series of little bumps that are arranged to specify each letter in the alphabet. …It’s called braille, the store owner reminded me, haha…” Sorey laughed, embarrassed that he had forgotten the name. “Normally, people use their fingers on it… but I figured you could just use your wind.”

Before he could have time to begin to worry, Dezel spoke brusquely.

“…What on earth? Let me see that.” He grabbed the book out of Sorey’s hands, much to his surprise, and opened it up to a random page.

“Ah w-wait,” Sorey began, slightly dumbfounded. “The cards have the letters of the alphabet listed on them, front left to right, top to bottom, and A to Z. You should loo- er, use those first to learn how each letter feels.”

As Dezel “hmm”d to himself, setting the book down on the floor and examining the first card intently, Sorey was internally sweating. He had no idea what to make of Dezel’s reaction; he had expected to get brushed off right away, the wind seraph probably seeing it as pitying him again. This thought had occurred to him when he was buying the materials, but he honestly didn’t intend for it to come across that way. Sorey just wanted to give Dezel something he might enjoy, and thought maybe he hadn’t heard of braille before. It appeared as if he’d been right.

_…Still, I can’t blame him if he gets upset at me. It doesn’t matter what my intentions are; I’m bringing up his blindness again, just like he didn’t want me to. …I’m pointing out the one thing he_ can’t _do, even with his exceptional ability to feel anything with the wind._

Sorey looked at his feet, his face downcast. _…I shouldn’t have done this._

After what felt like years, Sorey finally heard Dezel speak.

“…This is fascinating. I’ve never heard of this before.” He glanced up at Sorey, and spoke quietly. “You… You got these for me?”

Sorey’s eyes widened, but he quickly composed himself and nodded, smiling. “Yeah. You don’t have to bother with them or anything, I just thought you might be interested to know such books existed. I stumbled across them in the store here in Pendrago the other day, and the idea wouldn’t let go of me.” He paused, and continued hesitantly. “…To be honest, I first remembered it again when I was frustrated that I couldn’t read the Celestial Record back then, haha... Not that it mattered; I’ve already read it cover to cover many times.” He chuckled self-deprecatingly, trying to lighten the mood a bit.

“I… I see,” Dezel replied finally. Without a word, he leaned down and gathered up the book again, and walked over and set the things on the nightstand in between the two beds. “…Interesting, for sure.” He seemed to realize how uncharacteristic he was acting, and proceeded to start undressing himself as he had begun to before he was interrupted by Sorey.

“Hmph, you didn’t have to go to all that trouble though, for something so unimportant.”

But Sorey smiled happily, eyes shining. “You can do whatever you want with them, Dezel. Thanks for hearing me out, though.”

He sat down on his bed, undressing himself as well. “Sleep well; Mikleo should be back shortly.”

Sorey proceeded to lie down, perfectly content with and surprised at how things had gone, completely oblivious to Dezel’s continued stare towards him with his unseeing eyes.

 

* * *

 

The next morning, Sorey awoke to a soft voice beside him. He slowly regained consciousness fully, and the voice became more clear to him. He was facing away from it, but there was no mistaking what was being said.

“…’The Wildlife of Glenwood’, huh?”

Sorey only smiled.


End file.
